


Heaven & Earth

by Randomideaguy



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bechdel Test Pass, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-12-28 16:07:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomideaguy/pseuds/Randomideaguy
Summary: What if Kami refuses Earthly visitors following the King Piccolo saga? Without Goku's intercession, Kami never makes new Dragon Balls and our Earth heroes are forced to look to the stars for a new solution to their fallen friends from the King Piccolo Saga. What results is Goku and company flying off into space searching for a new set of Dragon Balls and exploring worlds unknown.





	1. Chapter 1

Capsule Corporation

"I just hate that I'm missing the tournament." Goku said as he did a hand-stand on the Capsule Corporation lawn. Though he was now fully grown (at 18 years old!) he still acted very much like a child. Bulma mumbled something from her spot underneath the spaceship on her lawn, currently unable to speak because of the screwdriver she held between her teeth.

"I mean, the reporters have been building it up for weeks! The great Tien-Goku rematch that everyone's been waiting for!" Goku flipped back onto his feet, performing a few punches to the air. Bulma stopped what she was doing and rolled out from underneath the spaceship, spitting out the screwdriver (which she had been holding in her mouth) onto the lawn.

"Goku, people are dead!" She yelled, causing Goku to stop what he was doing and turn to look at her. Bulma wiped some grease off of her face - she had just been working on the engine. Goku sighed, dramatically falling over and sitting with his legs cross-legged. He sighed, closing his eyes for a second.

"I know." He closed his eyes for a moment, "But it's been three years! And we don't even know what we are doing!" Goku opened his eyes, and it was clear that he was frustrated. Now it was Bulma's turn to sigh and she turned and walked over to where Goku was sitting on the ground. She bent down on her haunches, looking at the boy she had known for six years now.

"There HAS to be something out there. Something like Shenron? There's gotta be aliens involved." Bulma said, and Goku laughed in response. A big, large gut laugh with tears coming out of his eyes. Bulma gave him an annoyed look in response, standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

"Aliens!?" Goku opined between tears of laughter. Bulma's brow furrowed even deeper.

"Duh! You don't think you're an alien!? With that crazy tail of yours?" She tried to tell him, but he was still laughing, "You turn into a GIANT APE!" Goku finally stopped laughing, slowly of course. He wiped away his tears and Bulma stood there tapping her foot.

"Look, you're smartest person I know. If you think we can bring our friends back by looking for a second set of Dragon Balls in space, then I'm going to go with you." Goku said seriously now. The wind blew his gigantic hair gently. Bulma stood up straight again, turning to look at the ship that she had built.

"Do you miss them?" She asked, eyes roaming the entire ship for any possible defect. Goku stood up, walking next to her and looking at the ship with it's large "Capsule Corp." emblazoned on the side.

"Every day. I hate King Piccolo for what he took from us." Goku said, placing a hand on Bulma's shoulder. It was strange for her, as she was so used to Goku being shorter than her. She turned to her young friend with a sad smile on her face.

"At least it will be like old times. You, me, and Yamcha; searching for Dragon Balls." Bulma said.

"In space." Goku replied, looking up at the sky in wonder. They stood there for a second.

"Speaking of, where is Yamcha!?" Goku said, turning to look at the Capsule Corp building.

"He should be here by now…" Bulma said, following Goku's gaze and walking back towards the building.

"EEEKKK!" Bulma yelled in unison with a window breaking almost right in front of them. The source of the break was Yamcha, now lying in front of the duo. He had multiple bruises all over his face and looked like he had been in a pretty serious fight.

"You!" Goku said as he looked at the broken window where a familiar three-eyed bald man stood. Tien's green uniform swayed slightly in the wind and Goku sprang towards him with fists raised.

"Wait!" Tien held up his hands, but otherwise didn't try to defend himself. Goku stopped a few feet in front of him, fists still raised in preparation for a fight.

"Give me one good reason!" He said through gritted teeth. Farther down the lawn, Bulma leaned over the beaten Yamcha with worry in her eyes. The former bandit half-opened one eye to look up at Bulma, hair surrounded by the light of the sun.

"I never saw it coming, just crossed the street and wham…." Yamcha said lazily, falling back into the darkness of unconsciousness. Bulma looked up, hoping that Goku was finally getting that rematch that he had wanted. What she saw instead was Goku and Tien talking intently. She stood up, walking quickly over to them.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Bulma yelled, standing next to Goku. Tien gave her a look that Bulma misinterpreted as fear - fear of her. Goku turned to Bulma, a guilty look on his face.

"So, Tien is going into space with us." Goku said, scratching his head and awkwardly laughing. Bulma gave a shocked gasp, looking between the two of them. She looked about ready to fight both of them at once. Tien held up his hands in defense of himself.

"Hey hey! I just found this little thief on the side of the road after he got into a car accident. I was bringing him here to you when he mentioned what you guys are doing. And I'm going. You're not the only one who lost people to King Piccolo." Tien said, giving Bulma a moment's pause. Tien put his hands down, looking more confident and serious now.

"That thief over there didn't lose anything. If anyone has a right to go up there, it's me!" Tien explained. Goku nodded, seeming to agree with him.

"That thief is my boyfriend, you bald-headed jerk!" Bulma responded, exasperated. Goku and Tien just stared at her for a few seconds. Bulma wondered if she had just slipped into a mirror world where Tien and Goku were actually friends.

"Ugh, fine!" Bulma conceded. She turned and pointed a finger at Yamcha. Goku nodded, flying over to him and giving a senzu bean to the fallen warrior. Within moments Yamcha was completely fine and Goku helped him up.

"You could have done all that first." Yamcha said as Goku led him inside and sat him down. Bulma turned to Tien.

"Look, dude. I hope you're packed, because we're leaving now!" Bulma said and she stalked back over to the spaceship as the ramp lowered just for her. Tien gulped, following quietly afterward. He lugged a duffel bag along with him as he floated up the ramp of the ship. He shook his head as he saw Bulma again, already changed into her space suit and with the grease wiped off of her face.

"Sleeping quarters are over there. The master was going to be for Yamcha and I, but now that you are here you can share a spot with Goku." Bulma said as she pointed into what had to have been one of the smallest room's Tien had ever seen, with only a single toilet and a mat on the floor where Goku presumably intended to sleep. She gestured at the room they were currently in.

"This is the control room, obviously. We'll fly the ship from here." She pointed at the center console, surrounded by three chairs, "There's a food dispenser on the wall. It's processed, but it will be easy to find things to fuel it. Down there is the training room."

Bulma led Tien down the hall past the bedrooms to a glass door. Beyond it was a half-dome room that was otherwise completely empty. Bulma quickly disappears back to the pilot's room, but Tien lingers on the training room. He soon becomes aware of a presence behind him.

"Do you miss him?" Goku asks, referring to Chiaotzu, Tien's friend who died three years ago during the King Piccolo attack. Tien nodded.

"Honestly I wasn't going to the tournament, either. I just don't have it in me anymore…. But I would do anything to bring my friend back." TIen held up his fist in a dramatic fashion. Goku smiled, placing his hand on Tien's shoulder.

"I miss Krillin, too. He and I trained together at Master Roshi's when we were children… It seems so long ago. But I know it's my duty to make sure he makes it back here." Goku said, the fire in his eyes now matching that of Tien's.

"Ugh. You two should get a room, why don't you try that one?" Bulma scoffs as she walks past them, gesturing to the training room. The two boys (because at 21 and 18 that's really what they are, aren't they?) run into the training room and begin powering up - finally their long-awaited rematch, but not under the circumstances they intended. The lights in that room dim as the rest of the ship lights up and Bulma smiles as she sits at the cockpit. Though the ship could run fully on it's own, it also has a very light and passive energy absorption unit in the training room. She figured the ever active Goku could at least contribute to the ship's running and not be a total free loader.

There's Chapter 1. Warning, Goku will be extremely OOC because I'm going to write him as a human being and not the bastardization of his character we got later in the series.


	2. Chapter 2

Three Years Ago

"That little brat promised me a meal." was Yajirobe's first thought upon seeing the egg come flying out of the Demon King's mouth. He watched it instead of Goku, his stomach growling as he mindlessly trudged in the direction that the egg had fallen. While the little monkey boy fell behind some bushes to be unseen by the fat samurai, he discovered something potentially much more valuable.

"This has got to be the biggest egg I've ever seen! I bet it'll taste delicious!" Yajirobe said as he grabbed the egg, quickly finding it to be slimy. He made a gagging sound, quickly pulling his hands away and wiping them on his robes.

"Stupid slimy thing!" Yajirobe yells and kicks the egg, sending it tumbling end over end. Luckily for Yajirobe, he was saved from a comical chasing-the-egg scene by a nearby bush. Realizing the narrow miss, Yajirobe breathed a sigh of relief and quickly began scrounging around for the elements of a fire - large dry wood, sticks, and dead grass.

Soon night fell, and hundreds of yards away Goku finally came to, beaten and battered. He was eventually able to pull himself to a nearby river, and it would be weeks before he returned to Capsule Corp to live with the Briefs. He would be stronger than he was before his near-death experience, but he would be slightly changed from the experience of losing his friend Krillin and then very nearly losing his life.

But this is about Yajirobe and the giant, slimy disgusting egg that he found. With the sun set, Yajirobe used his amazing strength (doubly amazing because of his big, round stomach) to lift the egg onto his makeshift, which he had spent hours preparing.

And the egg put the fire out, it was so big.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Yajirobe fumed, and his stomach growled so loud that it echoed throughout the area. He tried a few more times, each time building a larger and bigger fire than the last, but the egg would not break.

Realizing that this would be a tough egg to crack, but not wanting to give up his only spoils for this long and stressful day he had surrounding the King Piccolo attacks, Yajirobe decided to once again scale Korin Tower (which Goku had brought to him earlier). Korin was taking a cat nap when Yajirobe tapped him with his (very tacky) socks/sandaled feet. Korin awoke with a start, not used to having strangers suddenly appear at his house in the middle of the night.

"You! What do you want?" Korin asked, "Where's Goku?" The cat followed up with a big yawn.

"No clue. But more importantly I found this big stupid egg after that green guy kicked the bucket, and it's not cooking right! I think I need some of your divine water crap to boil it in." Yajirobe explained. Korin became fully awake now, rubbing his eyes.

"An egg, you say? I think I know just the man for the job." Korin explained. He pit-patted across his extremely small little abode and went to a nearby string. He pulled it once, twice, and then three times. The two sat in silence for a moment.

"What's that supposed to do?" Yajirobe asked after an awkward silence.

"Sshhhh…" The cat reprimanded him, and moments later a bell sound echoed down to them. Before Yajirobe had a chance to say anything else sassy, a figure floated out of the clouds above them. He landed on the platform lightly, and Yajirobe went sheet white and walked backwards. His big rear quickly found the bannister of the platform and he tipped backwards, beginning to fall off.

A green, wrinkled hand reached out, grabbing the fat samurai by his open-chested shirt and pulling him back onto the platform. Yajirobe gasped, both glad to not have fallen to his death but also in fear at the awful creature before him.

"You look like Piccolo's ugly grandmother!" Yajirobe gasped out.

"I hope you didn't call me down here to get insulted." The green granny said calmly as he turned to Korin. The cat smiled, grabbing his staff and approaching the pruned pea.

"Yajirobe, this is Kami. I believe he would be very interested in hearing about the egg that you found." Korin explained. This seemed to prick the interest of the decrepit little grandma - errr, Kami. He turned to Yajirobe, his face calm but a fire in his eyes.

"Yajirobe, you will take me to this egg." Kami said. But Yajirobe wasn't impressed, in fact, the growling his stomach had overtaken his entire being.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get something to eat!" Yajirobe stomped his foot petulantly. If only he could be this brave when he wasn't hungry! Still, Kami snapped his fingers and a steak dinner appeared before Yajirobe. The samurai didn't take much time to awe himself over the situation, he was so hungry that he launched himself at the easily attained meal.

Sparing the gory details, soon the steak dinner was gone and Yajirobe was leading Kami and Korin to the location of the giant egg. By the time they got to where Yajirobe had hidden it in a tree, he was surprised to see that it had cracked open. He launched into the tree, quickly peaking into the egg and finding it empty.

"What!" He got out before he and the egg fell out of the tree together. He had cooked it so many times - it couldn't have possibly given birth to anything.

"What the hell came out of there?" Yajirobe asked, but Kami was ignoring him. Kami's eyes were closed, as if he were meditating, and all of the blabbering on Yajirobe's part did nothing to break his focus. Soon Kami's eyes snapped open and he was looking in a certain direction. Yajirobe following the green guy's gaze to see a similar looking green child quickly go back into hiding in some nearby bushes.

Kami floated in that direction quickly and it took his no effort at all to grab the leg of the small child which had apparently come from the egg. Kami held up the kicking and screaming baby, which looked like a child version of the evil creature which had nearly killed Yajirobe and everyone only hours ago.

"I…. almost ate… that?" Yajirobe nearly vomited up his steak dinner - but he held it in like a champ! The baby finally ceased kicking as Kami held it calmly, it glared at the astonishingly tall green man, glaring at him with hate in his eyes. Kami seemed to look back on the creature with pity.

"I should kill you right now!" Kami said, an anger in his tone that Yajirobe knew was uncharacteristic even from his short time being acquainted with the man. The child flinched in fear, and Kami's face quickly untwisted from rage to one of pity.

"I was mistaken to try to expel you. I must take responsibility for you, I will put in the steps necessary to bring this dark side that we share to heel." Kami said. Yajirobe felt like he might be intruding on a private moment, although he didn't have the sense to leave the premises.

"You, my son, shall be the future Protector of Earth. You will lead us into a future where we don't need the Dragon Balls which I will never again allow to divide the people of this planet."

And so Piccolo Junior was raised by Kami.


	3. Chapter 3

Outer Space

"Alright, Bulma, where are we at?" Goku asked as he came into the control room. Bulma was sitting at the console, face totally focused as she stared at various screens and of course the vast emptiness of space outside of the viewport.

"We left the solar system about an hour ago, but you two were still training so I thought you'd like to be left alone." Bulma gave a sideways glance at Goku, who was very sweaty and worst of all very smelly. He held his chin in his hands.

"The solar system is all the planets surrounding our sun, right?" Goku asked. Bulma smiled.

"Yes, that's exactly right, Goku." Bulma replied, "I'm glad you paid at least a little attention to my father's lessons."

"Of course! That stuff is so interesting - just imagine how many fighters could be out there." Goku replied. Bulma's face fell a little; while over the last three years Goku had picked up a lot of information while staying at the Brief household, he was by no means intelligent. Which is fine, that was not his personality, Bulma just wanted to make sure he would be able to function in the real world.

"Well, statistically there's likely thousands of different species in our universe. The chance of them being more powerful than you is pretty high." Bulma explained. Goku nodded, pumping his fist in the air in excitement. Tien walked up behind him, rubbing a towel over his bald head having just showered.

"You're probably an alien yourself." Tien said jokingly as he sat in the seat opposite Goku on Bulma's right side. He rubbed his head for a few seconds, before slowly stopping and sniffing the air.

"And you smell like a wild animal, you should go shower." Tien said. Goku laughed, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah! I guess I should." He said as he hopped up and headed for the shower. Tien and Bulma sat in awkward silence for a moment. They hadn't really spent much time alone up until this point and Goku was their only mutual friend/connection.

"At least he knows what showers are, now." Bulma said with a small sigh. She tapped a button on the console and leaned back, putting her feet up.

"I wonder if he puts shampoo or body wash in that tail? Which, by the way, what's up with that?" Tien asked, placing the towel he had onto an already begun pile in the corner. Bulma raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything about how there was a clothes hamper just outside the control room.

"Well, you might have been joking about him being an alien, but it's certainly a possibility. I don't remember if you've seen it yet, but Goku transforms into a giant ape whenever the moon is out. It's part of why my father and I have projected that there's a possibility there are lots of different species just waiting to be discovered out here." Bulma explained. Tien nodded, following along quietly.

"But how do we know there are more Dragon Balls out there?" Tien asked.

"Well, not exactly more dragon balls specifically, but some more high science options to bring our friends back. There's no way the dragon balls are one of a kind." Bulma explained. Tien laughed.

"Well, they're literally magic."

"I don't believe in magic." Bulma replied. Tien gave her a 'are you crazy' look.

"How!? You've seen what they can do -" Tien began.

"High science. Magic is just science we haven't discovered yet." Bulma said.

"You can't be serious." Tien replied, exasperated.

"I'm totally serious. The first thing I did was create a way to track the Dragon Balls. With science. You think I could do that if they really as magical as you think?" Bulma said as she spun her chair around. Tien paused for a moment, his face finally pulling together as he began nodding. Bulma smirked, he was at least smarter than Yamcha and Goku - maybe this wouldn't be as awkward as she thought.

"Uh, guys?" Goku appeared in the doorway, towel wrapped around his mid-section. Tien and Bulma both turned to him. Goku gestured behind him.

"There's some kind of ship behind us." Goku said. Bulma spun around in her chair, quickly pulling up the rear cameras. She scowled deeply, wondering why the ship's sensors didn't pick anything up. The image on the screen shows nothing but the blackness of space.

'

"I don't see anything." Bulma says. Tien and Goku both stand up, eyes focused and it's quickly clear to Bulma that they are sensing something. She stares at the image and barely makes out the edges of a ship which must be pitch black. She quickly wishes that she thought of that and imagined how much her plain white Capsule Corp ship must stand out in the blackness of space.

Finally, light did appear illuminating the center of the ship like a giant glowing red maw looking to suck up the Capsule Corp ship. Bulma frantically pushed every button she could, and for a moment the ship seemed to be stuck in place as the hard thrusters pulled against the tractor beam of the opposing ship. Two forms also came out of the maw, which Bulma quickly identified as auras - she had seen them from time to time on Earth.

Goku and Tien sprinted out of the room, heading towards the back door. Goku reached the back door and was about to pull open the air lock when Tien grabbed his hand. The bald man quickly tossed a airtight suit to Goku and both suited up. Once that was done they ripped open the airlock, hands up in a fighting position. The ship was now pratically engulfing our heroes ship, and the two auraed forms were close.

"Do you think we can take them?" Tien asked. Goku didn't turn to look at him, just staring at the enemies with complete focus.

"They're only a little bit stronger than us, if we fight smart we can take… them…" Goku trailed off as he and Tien suddenly saw three more forms leave the blackened ship. And within the black ship itself they felt an energy that was -

"That power level! It's not possible!" Tien said as sweat poured down his brow.

"I suggest you surrender now before this gets ugly." A voice came from one of the auras as they pulled up right next to Goku and Tien, "You're now in the hands of the Crusher Corps." The aura announced as Tien and Goku slowly lowered their arms.


	4. Chapter 4

Crusher Corps. Docking Bay

"Amond, what does it say about their power levels?" One of the tiny blue skinned aliens asked. Goku, Tien, and Bulma now found themselves on the deck of the Crusher Corp ship as two of the aliens rummaged through the Capsule Corp ship. Amond, the big more human looking one, tapped a button on his ear. A few numbers appeared on the screen in front of his eyes, and the man smiled.

"450, 440, and... 13. Looks like the boss had good intuition on this one!" Amond laughed and snapped his fingers.

"You can't do this! You can't take our stuff!" Goku said indignantly. Amond grabbed Goku by the shoulders, lifting him up high.

"I can do whatever I damn well please. And this is just the beginning of what we're going to take from you, little weakling." Amond threatened. Goku gulped - this one had to be multiple times stronger than Goku and Tien combined, and he wasn't even the most powerful person on this ship. Goku and Tien could both sense a... darkness, massive and engulfing elsewhere in the ship. Amond calmly set Goku down on a nearby chair and after a quick motion of his hands Tien and Bulma were sat down as well. Amond sat down across from the two, folding one leg over the top of the other in complete relaxation. He was clearly not very intimidated by the two Earth warriors.

"Now, first thing is first. What planet do you little meatsacks hail from?" Amond asked. There was an awkward, tense silence that followed. Amond smirked, giving a signal to one of the two blue aliens. Suddenly Goku's arm was pulled backwards and he screamed out in pain as it quickly felt like his very bones were going to break.

"Stop it!" Bulma quickly called an end to the violence.

"Are you ready to talk so soon?" Amond replied. Bulma sighed, not in exasperation, but in annoyance.

"The reason we didn't tell you where we're from is because we don't have one." Bulma explained. Both Goku and Tien turned to give the blue haired bombshell a wide eyed look. Amond leaned towards them, not entirely disbelieving and certainly interested.

"Is that so? There are many who have lost their world, including some of us." Amond motioned to the group in the docking bay.

"How did it happen?" Amond asked.

"We did it ourselves. We used and used whatever the planet had to offer, until finally it had no more to give. The air turned black and slowly began killing all of us. Now we three remain." Bulma gestured to her two compatriots. Amond sat in silence for a moment.

"And how did you make it all the way out here?" He asked.

"We heard tales of a -" Bulma looked down, almost embarrassed, "Magical object which could help us."

"Hmm..." Amond considered, "While there are many magical things in this great big galaxy, some that even we have discovered, there are none that could revive a dead planet. Trust me on that one." Amond said with almost a slight hint of pride. Finally he leaned back, sighing.

"Well, you have nothing to offer us and I cannot know for certain that you are telling the truth. So, we shall take you three on as our new janitors!" Amond announced with a sickening smile as the two blue aliens began clapping obnoxiously.

"Take them away!" Amond said as he stood up. The crew quickly filed past him and took hold of the Capsule Corp crew. They tried to struggle but, well the Crusher Corps was simply many orders of magnitude stronger than them. As Goku was struggling, the mask of his space suit came off, revealing his trademark spiky black hair. The entire crew gasped in surprise, muttering something in some alien language as they backed away from Goku in what seemed like... fear? Amond turned around slowly, his eyes widening as he took sight of Goku.

"Ah... Turles will want to get a good look at this. Forget the cells, bring them with me to the command center!"

Crusher Corps. Command Center

They approached the blackened center of the ship, that dark energy that threatened to eclipse Goku and Tien's very senses. It was an unnatural energy, it felt distinctly wrong to the two. While they were distracted Bulma was trying not to be too obvious as she studied every facet of the ship. They were dragged quickly to a figure shrouded in black shadows, the only thing visible was a bright red visor covering the right eye. There wasn't much pause as the creature immediately reacted to seeing the group.

"Hm. Interesting." Came the voice as Turles leaned forward out of the shadows. Bulma, Goku, and Tien all gasped as they realized that this being looked identical to Goku. Turles stood up, slowly approaching the trio. He tapped his visor, once again apparently bringing up the power levels of the trio. Turles scoffed in response to what he saw.

"Pitiful, but expected." He said as he approached them. Amond stood to the side, finally less smirky and more anxious as Turles approached. Even Goku and Tien could feel just how much stronger he was than the rest of the people on the ship.

"Sir, they said they lost their planet. They're searching for a magical artifact to undo the destruction." Amond reported quickly. Turles nodded, face taut.

"Aren't we all?" Turles said as he paced around the trio, sizing them up. Finally he stopped in front of Goku, placing a hand on his shoulder. Goku tried not to flinch.

"I thought I'd never see another Saiyan again." Turles said, and finally a bit of emotion broke into his voice.

"A Saiyan? What the hell's a saiyan!?" Bulma lost her patience, perhaps speaking a bit more boldly than a prisoner should. She yelped as one of the blue aliens squeezed her arm gently. To her it felt like her arm nearly broke. Turles looked at Goku, who indeed looked equally confused.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

Next chapter I'm going to pretty wildly change the Saiyan backstory in the name of worldbuilding. It'll be fun. Also, will our heroes escape the clutches of these weird space pirates? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!


	5. Chapter 5

"Hundreds of years ago, there existed two races: the Saiyans and the Tuffles. They both occupied what later became known as Planet Vegeta. The Saiyans were a proud warrior race, very strong. And the Tuffles were a group of blue aliens, with a bend towards science. The two races fought each other for years, the Saiyans becoming ever more powerful and the Tuffles building greater and greater inventions and weapons of war. No one remembers why the fighting began, but it became a race to exterminate the other.

After much fighting, things finally came to a head. The Saiyans completely destroyed the Tuffles and discovered something unimaginable... spaceships. The sole surviving Tuffle AI taught us how to use the ships and we broke free of the shackles of our planet, unleashed upon the universe. We found other worlds, besting them in combat and taking their resources as was the Saiyan Way... This soon brought us to the attention of the Cold Empire. The Cold Empire had brought law and order to a vast section of the galaxy... the Saiyans were a threat to that. And so we were hired by the Cold Empire, turned against it's enemies and kept in check by Prince Frieza himself.

And it worked for a time, but many resented Frieza and it soon became clear that we were nothing more than cannon fodder to be expensed against the enemies of the Cold Empire. And things worked differently under Frieza, no longer did we pillage people and leave them alive as was the Saiyan Way. It was an extermination, a slaughter, unfair fight after unfair fight in the name of wealth. This was not the way of our people. People began to grow discontented. While King Vegeta tried valiantly to displace us from Frieza's control, his shows of force soon made it clear to us that we were nothing more than pets to him whom could be exterminated at any time. As King Vegeta proved useless, an underground resistance was started instead.

Led by Bardock the Wise, they declared a prophecy - the coming of a 'Super Saiyan', a saiyan child who would hold an immense power many times greater than that of Frieza. Some scoffed, but it eventually came true. Broly was born, a child with a massive power level who could've grown up to defeat Frieza.

But the resistance had been corrupted, and it's goal of freeing us from the chains of the Cold Empire. Instead they took the child as a sign and made a move for a coup d'etat on the Royal Palace, looking to displace King Vegeta himself. This proved to be the perfect chance for Lord Frieza, who had been looking for any and all chances to reduce and destroy the Saiyan population. While Bardock and Vegeta's forces battled over a petty crown, Frieza bombed the whole planet and unleashed a biological weapon, laying waste to the child prodigy and anyone who could've done something about Frieza.

What remained was but a small handful. Our Prince Vegeta, whom Frieza had taken captive long before, still remained alive along with a few of us. We served for many years as some of Frieza's top fighters, in exchange for our continued existence. But without the numbers we had before, we had very few rights under the tyrant.

Of course, Vegeta never forgot what happened. And on one fateful night he prepared a way for my escape - I was to find a weapon, a source of magic like what you three are searching for.

But there is no magic. There is nothing in this universe that could stop that pale faced prince and there is certainly nothing that could bring my people back. So I and my crew have returned to the Saiyan Way. Taking what we can, fighting only the best, and going on our merry way.

You, my son, are like me. Born and bred to be a warrior, a footsoldier of the lowest caste in the Saiyan Race. We are both lucky to be here, to be honest, as Frieza's bioweapon was specifically designed to destroy our genetically engineered biology." Turles explained solemnly to the audience of three and also his small band of pirates. They sat in perfect silence, listening intently.

"That... is a lot to handle." Goku responded first, as Turles was mainly talking to him.

"So you found nothing, after all your searching?" Bulma asked. Turles shook his head.

"There are rumors of various objects, but we've followed up on almost all of them." Turles responded.

"But not all of them?" Tien asked. Turles frowned, his energy level spiking slightly.

"Do you question my commitment to Lord Vegeta's sworn mission?" Turles stood up, clutching his fist tightly. Goku stepped in front of his friends.

"Let's all just calm down." Goku tried to say, but Turles was already stepping down from his throne. Bulma and Tien looked at each other nervously.

"Amond informed me you three have nothing of use to us, but I think you do. You would make great additions to our crew." Turles said, although there was a hint of menace hidden in his voice.

"And if we say no?" Tien quipped. By the clenched fist though, none of the threesome needed to hear the answer. Goku's hands moved and (recognizing the movement), Bulma and Tien closed their eyes tightly.

"Why then I'll -" Turles began to say with a raised fist when Goku cut him off, "Solar Flare!"

The room was illuminated with light, and the three Z Fighters acted quickly. Opening their eyes, they saw that the members of the Crusher corps were completely disoriented like a flashbang had just gone off in the room. Goku and Bulma ran first, with Tien following closely behind. Amond acted first, and though blinded moved in the direction that the three had just been in - narrowly grabbing Tien's arm.

"Multi-form!" Tien reacted quickly, his body splitting into two. With one Tien caught in Amond's grip, the free one ran after Goku and Bulma. The remaining Tien began punching Amond in the face, although even blinded (just now starting to see) Amond was unfazed. He ran a hand straight through Tien's heart, and the double dissipated into thin air. Grasping his fist in anger, Turles ran after the fleeing Z fighters followed closely by his own Crusher Corps.

Luckily, the ship wasn't very big and the Z Fighters were nearly back to their ship by the time the Crusher Corps began chasing them. Bulma ran up the ship ramp, stopping at the top and turning to look.

"What are you doing! They're right behind us!" Tien yelled from the back of the group. Bulma quickly spied what she was looking for and pointed at it.

"Goku! Hit that thing. Hard." She said before slipping into the ship's cockpit and activating the ship. Goku spied what she was looking at, a golden orange ball wrapped in metal rings. While he began to charge an attack, Tien ran towards the hallway entrance where Turles and the rest were in sight.

"Multi-form!" He yelled and this time two copies of himself appeared in front of him and charged bravely at the Crusher Corps. Though vastly weaker than them, Tien's two copies were still a roadblock to reaching the Z Fighters and would buy them a couple of seconds. Goku remained focused.

"Ka... me..." He began charging as the original Tien limped back to the ship, sweating profusely and clearly not in good shape.

"Ha... me..." The ship began to float off of the ground slightly as the two Tien clones were obliterated in the hallway by Turles, who was now charging right towards the Capsule Corporation ship.

"HAAA!" Goku unleashed the blue energy beam directly at the orange ball. There was a briefly flash of light and the Capsule Corp ship lifted away, closing the ramp without waiting for the results. The ship had barely made it out of the docking bay before -

BOOM!

What Bulma had correctly identified as the tractor beam exploded, unleashing it's energy and mostly confined to the inside of the ship. Turles ship imploded on the inside, the small hole of the docking bay releasing just enough pressure to keep the entire ship from going to pieces. The force released through the docking bay launched the Capsule Corp ship in a random direction at high speeds, not particularly under the control of Bulma who had smartly kept the main thrusters off and folded into the ship to prevent it being damaged by the explosion.

"AAHHH!" The three screamed as they were launched far away from the wreckage of the Crusher Corps ship, where inside Turles and his crew had barely survived.

But some distance away, a third ship silently turned towards the explosion, which had released a large amount of energy.

"That looks... interesting." The small pilot of the third ship said to himself as he turned his ship in that direction. Already he could feel a few meager energy levels and one heart full of hate.

A wicked smile spread across the evil wizard Babidi's face.


	6. Chapter 6

Space

"AAHHH!" The three screamed as they were launched far away from the wreckage of the Crusher Corps ship, flying deep into the darkness of space. The momentum of the blast carried them quite a ways, and after a few minutes Bulma got tired of holding onto her seat for dear life.

"Anti-gravity on." She said as she smashed a button and quickly the trio fell hard to the floor even while outside the ship was rolling in crazy circles as it flew through space. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, I was hoping for a more guided tour of the unknown but I guess since we don't know where we're going anyways it doesn't really matter, does it?" Bulma said, looking around for a second.

"Oh god, we're never going to find something like the Dragon Balls. We're just going to die out here." Bulma said sadly. Goku got up, walking past Tien (sprawled out in a chair catching his breath from earlier) and laying a hand calmly on Bulma's shoulder.

"Don't worry Bulma. We'll find something. We have to. For Krillin." Goku said, a fierce determination in his eyes.

"And Chiaotzu." Tien chimed in through wheezing breaths.

"And Roshi." Bulma finished the list of the dead with a sigh. Above them, the lights flickered slightly. She gave them an angry look, as if to stop them by sheer mental force, but they continued to flicker. She walked to the back of the room, ignoring the continuous spinning blackness out the window, and grabbed a simple toolbox out of a sliding compartment.

"Looks like that explosion did a number on us." Bulma said, sifting through the various hammers and screwdrivers.

"Not as bad as we did to them, though, right?" Tien said, a small smirk on his face. That cloning technique had taken quite a bit out of him, but seeing that ship explode had been awesome.

"Don't get too excited, dude. I need you two to go train again." Bulma said. Tien's jaw dropped to the floor.

"What!? We just finished fighting those guys! I don't think I'll be able to walk for a week." Tien complained. Now it was Goku's turn as he ran to his room and quickly returned with a bag. He offered a bean from it to Tien.

"Here's a senzu! It'll fix you right up." Goku said, already eager to return to the training room. Bulma turned to them.

"I love the spirit, guys, but we're going to be out here for a while. Shouldn't we pace out the senzu beans?" She suggested. Goku looked at the bag of beans, then back at Bulma and shrugged.

"I didn't do very much back there, so I don't need it." Goku said. The two turned to look at Tien, who was still sweating and shaking a bit.

"I... I think I can sleep it off. Later. Do you need both of us in there?" Tien asked. Bulma thought for a moment, tapping her foot and holding a comically sized wrench over her shoulder.

"I guess not. But Goku, you'll need to pull double duty. This baby runs on a lot of energy." Bulma said. Goku nodded dutifully and reached down, grabbing Tien under the arms and hoisting him up.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" The tired bald man asked as Goku carried him to the training room. Bulma just smiled, shaking her head and walking away towards the engine room, protected at the center of the ship.

"You can't train with me, but you can help me train!" Goku said as he carried Tien into the training room. He set the bald man by the door and walked towards the center of the room where the gravity was strongest. Up above red bulbs flashed as Goku already began raising his ki level to begin the session. Tien leaned back and grabbed a conveniently placed bottle of water that the duo had left there earlier.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" Tien asked as Goku began going through his warm ups, performing basic kicks and punches at a speed regular humans couldn't comprehend.

"That cloning technique. It's new." Goku said, not looking at Tien but rather staring off in the distance with extreme focus. Tien nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, it is." Tien replied.

"So you can create new techniques from scratch... that's very useful, Tien." Goku admitted, impressed with his former rival. Tien didn't let the praise go unnoticed.

"Would you like to learn how to do it? I must warn you, it's very draining." Tien admitted. Goku nodded, now turning to face Tien. Though the bald man was barely a few years older than Goku, he suddenly felt like a sensei... He didn't mind the feeling.

"Alright! So -" Tien explained the technique, and surprisingly within minutes Goku had managed to make a duplicate of himself. The two Gokus looked at each other, a huge smile simultaneously crossing their face.

"This."

"Will."

"Be."

"Fun." The two said every other word as they immediately leaped into action, sparring back and forth with speed. Tien had not noticed it when he performed it himself, but now seeing from the outside it was clear to him that the technique had halved Goku's speed - spreading it evenly between the two clones. He imagined that the same could've been said about the power levels of the two clones. While Goku 1 and 2 sparred, Tien considered the finer points and benefits of the technique: he was an inventor of techniques and he enjoyed thinking about how they worked.

After a bit Tien found his strength slowly returning to him and he stood up, a little unsteady but ready to train.

"Ready already?" One Goku asked before getting clocked in the face by the other Goku.

"Yeah, and I think it's time you pay me back since you used my Solar Flare technique back there. Let's fight. If I win, you teach me the Kamehameha." Tien began stretching, already feeling better. Both Goku's stopped training, turning to face Tien.

"And if we win?" They said in unison. Tien laughed.

"You won't." And with that the bald headed man launched himself between Goku #1 and #2. Both saw him move, but their reaction was slower than Goku realized. The two clones tried to strike at Tien... and ended up hitting each other. Both shook their hand in confusion, and Goku #2 turned just in time for a crushing blow to the jaw from Tien.

"No fair!" Goku #1 yelled as he jumped at Tien, grappling hands with him.

"You said it yourself!" Tien said as he already began to overwhelm Goku #1 while behind him Goku #2 pulled himself up and approached Tien from behind, "You have to fight smart! Four Witches!"

Just as Goku #2 attempted to bring his fist down on Tien's back, two arms jumped out from his flesh and grabbed Goku #2's hands as well.

"Ewwww!" Goku #2 said in disgust as Goku #1 disconnected from Tien and rolled away. Goku #2 bit down on one of Tien's hands, forcing him to let go of the saiyan. Soon both clones were circling Tien, like predators sizing up a prey. Tien eyed both of them, his four arms ready to take whatever they had for him. Both Goku's launched themselves again, and Tien once again dodged. However this time Goku saw it coming, and instead of ramming into each other one went up while the other went down. Tien didn't expect for Goku #1 to punch him at the top of his arc, sending him right down below into Goku #2's knee which sent Tien skidding across the room.

"That was good. But not good enough." Tien now went on the offensive, grabbing Goku #1 and using him like a rag doll to slam into Goku #2. While Goku #1 tried to resist and Goku #2 tried to run, both found that they were outmatched by Tien's strength and speed. It was now that Goku realized his strength and speed had been compromised by the move, and as Goku #1 was slammed mercilessly into Goku #2 they both dissipated into smoke leaving only a worn out Goku lying on the floor.

"Haha!" Tien cheered as he reached down and offered Goku a hand. Goku smiled, loving the thrill of the battle. He returned to his feet and dusted off his hands.

"Okay, so you want to learn the Kamehameha..." Goku began.

Out in the cockpit, Bulma had returned to the pilot's chair and slowly begun siphoning the energy collected in the training room to the engine reserves. The ship slowly stopped spinning but was quickly approaching a new destination, one that appeared to be a giant mass of metal with energy signatures detected all throughout it. The computer went wild, screen flickering and flashing lots of numbers - Bulma identified morse code, programming language, and alien symbols all in the mix before she shut it down.

"Guys." She said as she tapped on the comm connecting to the training room, "I found something you might want to see!"


	7. Chapter 7

23rd Budokai Tenkaichi

"How could he not be here!?" Chi-Chi thought as she stared up at the board containing all of the fighters for this years Tenkaichi Budokai. She had trekked a long way from her home, obtaining blessing and training from her father the Ox King to come find her future husband here. There were names all over the board, including both her own and a few she recognized like Yamcha. But no Goku. This trip was going to be a bust, and Chi-Chi would never be married!

"Oh, this will be fun." A deep voice came from behind her. Chi-Chi turned her head to see a tall man, complete with afro, sideburns, and an awful shirt that revealed too much chest hair. The man looked down at her, offering a cocky smile.

"Hey there little lady. Who's fan club are you apart of?" The man asked. Chi-Chi almost instantly felt a blood vessel pop into her head.

"Um, excuse me!?" She asked, but already the man was walking past her as someone else got his attention.

"Hey, Hercules!" The other person asked. Chi-Chi turned her head back to the board, quickly identifying Hercules name on the list.

"I have to kick his ass, just for that." Chi-Chi said with her brow furrowed. Already the thought of Goku was drifting from her mind.

In the crowd, two green men tried to look inconspicuous as they wore baseball caps and t-shirts. It wasn't exactly fooling anyone, but given that the President was a talking dog this didn't really matter.

"I don't understand why we're here, Uncle." Piccolo asked Kami as he fidgeted in his seat. Though he looked like an older teenager or a very young adult, he was really only three years old. During his short life Kami had attempted to teach Piccolo the finer tenets of meditation and patience, but for a young person this is very hard to grasp. Kami smiled.

"Patience, my child. We are here to watch, and watch only." Kami explained, Piccolo nodded slowly feeling as if he were missing something.

"Are we expecting an attack here? Some giant monster that I must defeat?" Piccolo asked, the excitement in his voice fairly clear. Though Kami had dubbed him 'Guardian of Earth' the job had been fairly boring as of late. Kami only laughed in response.

"Not at all. Sometimes we just come down and mingle with the people. It would be unwise to become disconnected from the people you are sworn to protect. Just try to have fun, and appreciate what is going on here." Kami explained serenely. The two were quiet for a few moments as the first pair of fighters was announced.

"For our first round we have Yamcha versus Chi-Chi! You know the rules people but I'll go over them just one more time for the kiddos here today - you get knocked down longer than ten seconds -" The announcer began.

"YOU'RE OUT!" The crowd chimed in. Piccolo rolled his eyes and ate some popcorn.

"You get knocked out of the ring-"

"YOU'RE OUT!"

"You surrender?"

"YOU'RE OUT!"

"Alright guys, let's have a nice clean match." The announcer finished up as Yamcha and Chi-Chi met in the center of the ring. Yamcha smiled, scratching his hair as he and Chi-Chi bowed to each other.

"Hey! Don't I know you from somewhere?" He began.

"Must. Kill. Afro-Guy." Chi-Chi muttered under her breathe.

"What?" Yamcha managed before -

"FIGHT!" The announcer yelled and moments later Chi-Chi was on him, her left foot coming down on Yamcha's shoulder. He didn't see it coming, to say the least, and he collapsed to the crowd.

"Woah!" Yamcha exclaimed as he rolled away from a second kick which would have broken his nose.

"This chick's more dangerous than I thought! Better end it quick!" Yamcha thought aloud as he got into his trademark stance, "Wolf Fang Fist!"

Yamcha unleashed a barrage of attacks at Chi-Chi, who blocked a few, dodged a few others, but was hit by some and was thrown back a few feet with bruises on her arms. She jumped up, recovering quickly and staring at Yamcha with literal flames in her eyes and smoke coming out of her ears. Yamcha gulped.

"Power Slugger!" Chi-Chi yelled and swung her arm at Yamcha; he was surprised to see an actual ki attack from his first round opponent, and only narrow dodged the ki blade before it struck the ground behind him and sliced the tile in two. Yamcha didn't wait for a second attack and dove at Chi-Chi, trying to sweep her legs from under her. Chi-Chi responded fast, though, kneeing Yamcha in the face and then bringing a fist down on his head.

Yamcha recovered his footing, jumping back a few feet as Chi-Chi kept the offensive going from punching and kicking. He began to float in the air, hoping to pull away, but Chi-Chi jumped into the air and grabbed his foot, forcibly pulling the former thief back to the ground. Yamcha punched Chi-Chi in the gut, causing her to double over while he flipped backwards delivering a powerful kick to her jaw and landing Yamcha on the edge of the arena.

"Kame..." Yamcha began to power up the attack. Chi-Chi's eyes widened as she recognized the attack from long ago. She began running at Yamcha from her spot on the opposite side of the arena.

"Hame..." A blue orb began to form in Yamcha's hands. Chi-Chi was closer now, roughly in the center of the arena.

"HA!" Yamcha unleashed his energy blast at Chi-Chi, who thankfully knew what it was and knew to dive out of the way. She blitzed to the right, narrowly avoiding the beam of energy and landing a well placed kick in Yamcha's face. Taken totally off guard, Yamcha fell backwards and out of the arena.

"And that's it folks! Chi-Chi is the winner!" The guard announced. Chi-Chi spun around, searching the crowd until she saw Hercules whose mouth was already agape from seeing the various ki attacks that had just been used.

"YOU'RE NEXT, ASSHOLE!" Chi-Chi screamed and stomped her foot on the ground. In the stands, Piccolo was laughing and clapping. Hercules didn't know whether to be terrified or aroused.


	8. Chapter 8

Giant Metal Ball

"Oh god, not this again!" Tien yelled as he grabbed onto his seat. Bulma slapped him in the arm without looking at him.

"Stop crying! There's nothing pulling us in. I'm just... curious." Bulma said. Tien stopped holding onto his seat and indeed found that the ship was actually moving at it's regular pace.

"We should thank the Crusher Corp - I barely had to use any of our engine to get us here." Bulma said with a smile as the hulking metal planet filled up the entire view port of the Capsule Corp ship.

"I hope there's food down there!" Goku said, and then more seriously, "I'm sensing a few points of energy. Hopefully there's some nicer people that we can talk to." Tien nodded in agreement and the ship pulled close to what appeared to be a closed door on the metal ball. They waited a few moments and out of the corner of his eye Tien saw a screen flash with different symbols. Then, as if a button had been pushed, the door opened up revealing a bright light to the crew of the Capsule Corp ship.

"That doesn't look good." Tien said.

"That looks exciting!" Goku and Bulma both replied in unison and the ship began to inch forward into the brightness. The view port darkened and brightened until a sharp image came into view - various mechanical parts and parcels moving back and forth. Bulma tapped an auto-pilot button and got out of her chair, walking up to the viewport and looking around.

"Wo-ow!" She said, amazed at the machinery surrounding her, "I wonder who could have built this?" She asked rhetorically.

"It feels like... it's alive." Goku said as he stood up, his face concentrated as he was feeling the energy around them. Tien waited a few moments, thinking as well before nodding in response.

"Don't get my hopes up..." Bulma said, trailing off as they saw a platform in the distance. There they saw movement, different from the shifting machinery around them. It was slower, more nuanced. As they got closer Bulma made out humanoid shapes.

"No! Way!" She said excitedly as she hopped back into the driver's seat. Goku and Tien looked at each other warily.

"We haven't had a good track record of meeting stuff out here." Tien said quietly to him. Goku nodded.

"Well, lets not burst her bubble. Just stay on guard." He said with a smile on his face as he turned to face Bulma.

"They're so cool! I wonder if they have any food!" He said as he jumped up and down next to her. Tien looked at him like he was crazy - was this an act or did Goku really want food?

"Check. it. out." Bulma said as the viewport zoomed in on the figures, now much closer anyways, to reveal square looking, humanoid robots walking back and forth on the central platform. They didn't appear to be following any particularly pattern, but were rather walking around aimlessly.

At least until the Capsule Corp ship got closer to them. The machines all turned and looked at the ship - not with their whole bodies, thankfully, as that would be creepy - just with their heads. Like people. Okay maybe just the head was more creepy. Goku's hand tightened on the edge of Bulma's chair, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Let's go say hi!" She said as the Capsule Corp ship pulled up next to the platform. No sooner had it pulled up the entire ship shifted slightly, causing Tien to yelp in surprise. Bulma's eyes focused for a second as she pulled up various information on her display. Her face quickly softened and she waved out the window.

"What are you doing!?" Tien asked incredulously.

"They hooked me into some docking gear so I wouldn't waste energy keeping our ship floating here!" Bulma announced as she was already getting up and walking towards the airlock. Goku and Tien followed behind her, but both got stuck trying to walk through the hallway at the same time because their shoulders were so big. They each glared at each other, a phantom of their old rivalry passing between them, before Tien let Goku go first and follow behind Bulma.

"I'm going out there to see what this place is all about!" Bulma announced as she was quickly putting on the white outfit and helmet. With nothing left to do, the two boys followed suit with her.

"How do we know they're not hostile?" Tien asked.

"We don't." Bulma responded.

"What if they attack us?" Goku asked.

"Well that's why I have you two with me!" Bulma replied, tapping the button on the airlock and getting a reading of the air outside.

"It's not perfectly like ours, but if we get in a pinch we could breathe in here for an hour or two before it killed us." Bulma said as she tapped the airlock and opened up the Capsule Corp ship to the outside. She practically skipped down the ramp onto the platform. Tien looked at Goku, a scowl on his face.

"'Only an hour or two before the air kills us'." He mocked Bulma's voice before following quickly behind her. Bulma had only just descended to the platform proper when the robots began to move over towards them. While from afar their movements looked graceful, almost human-like. Up close they appeared (thankfully) more rigid and robotic, almost awkward. The machines lumbered towards the trio and both Goku & Tien got into fighting stances in response. Bulma simply looked up at them, their single red lighted eye staring back at her.

"Um... excuse me." Bulma asked and walked forward. As if reacting to her command, the machines inched backwards and allowed Bulma and her friends to walk through. The platform was actually quite long, and the robots provided something of an aisle for them to walk down - though worryingly also closed up the aisle behind them.

"I don't know about this place," Goku said quietly as he looked back and forth. Soon the aisle came to an end - a screen flashing green numbers and code back and forth.

"Hello." A voice came from the machine. The trio stopped in their tracks.

"Did that thing just... talk!?" Tien asked.

"Of course I did! I picked up your language when I scanned your ship." The voice responded, "I thought it would be useful so that I can ask you what you're doing here."

No one responded for a few moments. Bulma looked at the two boys, who were clearly out of their depth. She stepped forward a little farther from them.

"My friends and I are searching the universe for something powerful. Something to bring our friends back to life." Bulma said. There was a pause, and the numbers on the screen shifted until something like a face appeared.

"Life?" The machine asked. Bulma nodded, taking another step closer now. She was within arms reach of the computer screen.

"Yes, life. My name's Bulma. What is yours?" She asked. There was pause, as if the machine had never been asked this before.

"My name is Gete." It responded.


	9. Chapter 9

Big Gete Star

"Do you mind if we explore a little bit, Mr. Gete?" Goku asked as it began to look like Bulma and Gete would be talking for sometime. A few dotted lines crossed the screen, and a new aisle opened within the field of robots.

"Certainly. Follow this route and you shall find a spot to your liking." Gete responded. Tien felt a chill go up his spine, for some reason, but followed behind Goku dutifully. Bulma remained near the computer.

"You're tired." Gete said. A statement, not a question, "Here is a seat for you." And like that a chair appeared behind Bulma, allowing her to sit at the screen containing Gete's 'face' as if she were at a computer desk.

"I have so many questions." Bulma began.

"As do I." Gete reminded her. Bulma nodded, her face focusing.

"Okay, how's this - I ask you a question, and you ask me one." Bulma said. There was a pause.

"That will be… satisfactory." Gete responded.

"Who created you?" Bulma asked.

"I was an early prototype by Doctor Myu. Who created you?" Gete responded, almost sounding offended. Bulma didn't freak out like Tien or Goku would have, simply sitting back and genuinely considering the question.

"My parents, I guess." Bulma responded.

"Who is Doctor Myu?" Bulma asked. There was an annoying chirp from the computer screen and a brief flash of red light.

"I cannot answer that question." Gete responded in a more monotone voice than usual. Bulma sighed angrily.

"Why do you want to bring your people back to life?" Gete asked.

"Because… well because they are our friends?" Bulma asked. Gete considered this for a moment.

"Friends. An interesting concept. But I owe you two answers now since I couldn't answer your earlier one." Gete replied. Bulma nodded, considering her questions carefully.

"What is your purpose?" Bulma asked her first question.

"I was created solely as a prototype to something else. My purpose was to test out the kinks and beyond that I was left in peace." Gete replied. Bulma smiled.

"You must've had a good inventor. I know some scientists aren't very sentimental about their prototypes - they're only interested in the perfect finished product." Bulma replied.

"Were your parents like that?" Gete asked innocently. Bulma nodded, smiling.

"Mostly my parents just let me be. I think my mom's just proud I made it to adulthood without going to jail." Bulma replied.

"You dodged my question, though. What is your purpose, currently?" Bulma replied, her eyes slightly sharper but her posture still relaxed. There was a pause, and something flashed on the screen that almost looked like an electronic smirk.

"Well played, Ms. Briefs. I was created as an instrument of war. But I never got to fulfill that purpose. My successor removed the threat entirely. Now I wander the galaxy aimlessly, collecting ever more data about the various species. Or as you would term it, making friends." Gete responded.

"So you've traveled. That's good. Do you know of anything that could revive deceased life forms?" Bulma asked.

"Oh, many things. The Elders of Icaron hold many secrets that the universe would love to know. The Kais can in times of need revive those lost to the great unknown. And of course the Namekians hold a special magical talisman that grants a restrained but great amount of power…" Gete began to go on. Bulma nodded through the list, at least one of them sounding like the Dragon Balls. But who were the 'Namekians'?

"Now, it is time for my question." Gete finished his list, which Bulma had already committed to memory. Bulma nodded, satisfied and ready to answer whatever now that she had gotten what she wanted.

"Why didn't you bring weapons?" Gete asked.

"Uh… what?" Bulma asked, her eyes a little wider at what she perceived as a veiled threat.

"It's dangerous out here. I have already had to take several beings under my protection." Gete explained. Bulma leaned back, taking this information in. The boys - they had sensed multiple kis on this piece of metal. But none of that came from Gete or the robots…

"Gete. What is your intention with my friends and I?" Bulma asked. Gete paused thinking for a moment.

"Only to learn. I'm currently testing your warriors to see if they will be safe out there." Gete responded.

"Testing them?" Bulma asked slowly standing up. Behind her an aisle opened up in the wall of robots.

"Yes, would you like to watch?" Gete asked. Bulma didn't respond, jumping up from her seat and running down the platform straight into the aisle. She had to find Goku and Tien, make sure that they were okay!

Back with Goku and Tien, they eventually realized that they were approaching a light source. The amount of robots gave way to a hallway, gleaming metal although still with the odd robot here or there. They eventually reached the source of the light - a thin film that appeared to be like a plastic bubble.

"This is it?" Tien asked, and then he jumped as the film seemed to spread apart before them. Tien and Goku looked at each other and then walked through together.

"Wow!" Goku said as he and Tien stepped into what looked identical to an Earth meadow. He could even swear that he heard birds chirping in the distance. Tien was looking around as well, but nearly fell over when he ran right into the heavy white metal chest of a robot.

"AH!" He yelled.

"I know that you two enjoy sparring, so I thought that I would provide one of my robots for you two to spar with. The meadow you see before you is a perfect recreation of your planet. You should be able to breathe perfectly fine, and I can adjust the gravity level to whatever you like." Gete explained, his voice coming through the speaker on the side of the giant white robots head. The robot offered a hand, helping Tien up.

"You'll let us spar with you?" Goku asked. The robot nodded.

"Maybe this guy is alright." Tien said as he already began stretching to fight the robot.

"I must warn you, the hulls of my robots are very resistant to stress." Gete-robot informed the duo.

"Challenge accepted." Goku replied. He didn't waste a beat, leaping straight at the robot and slamming his fist into the machines face at full force. There was a brief pause before Goku jumped back.

"Ye-ow!" He yelped, shaking his hand vigorously back and forth. Tien flew right past him, this time trying to go for one of the softer black parts of the machine that acted as joints. The machine moved much faster than either warrior anticipated, moving back like a cat that had just touched bath water.

"Ohhh, this will be fun." Goku gave a wicked grin as he flew up and over the machine, now flanking it with Tien. Both flew at the machine, and this time it didn't move but rather lifted up it's big mechanical hands and hit both Goku and Tien knocking them to the ground with a surprising amount of force.

"Strength level, 50%." Gete-robot informed them.

"Oh come on! You're just mocking us." Tien yelled from the ground.

"Maybe a little bit." Gete said as he swung around and connected his robot leg with Goku's face. Goku recovered quickly, flying at the machine again and going for a whirlwind of attacks on the things mid-section.

"I thought you would've learned that won't work." Gete-robot told the Saiyan. Goku simply looked up at the machine with a smile on his face, holding still as Gete-robot picked Goku up.

"Dodon Ray!" Tien yelled from behind the machine. Once again the hulking robot moved much faster than it should, spinning around and launching Goku at Tien. While the two collided into each other and then both flew through a tree (snapping it clean in two) the Dodon Ray connected with the right shoulder of the machine.

Both of the warriors looked up quickly to see what the efforts of their attack had been. The smoke from the attack cleared on Gete-robot's shoulder, revealing a small dent in the armor. Tien shrugged.

"It's a start." Goku hopped up and began charging the Gete-robot with Tien at his side.

"Multi-form!" Tien split into two and both took to the air, launching ki blasts at the Gete-robot. Smoke was kicked up all around it as Goku stayed back, holding his hand up in the air and charging an attack. Gete-robot raised both of it's fists as Tien came close, knocking Tien-1 and Tien-2 to the ground.

"Destructo Disc!" Goku's voice carried through the smoke, and a blazing sharp frisbee of energy flew through the smoke straight towards the Gete-robot. The machine leaped above it effortlessly.

"Smart move, but too slow." Gete-robot informed them as Goku and both Tien clones got up slowly. Bulma soon came running to the film that separated the area, watching the warriors fight the robot.


	10. Chapter 10

The Meadow, Big Gete Star

"Ah fuck." Tien-1 got out before the Gete-robot launched across the yard, knocking Goku into the ground and pounding on his face. Both Tien's surged forward and grabbed the robot by the arms, but even they were unable to stop the beat down.

"Goku!" Bulma managed to yell as she burst into the meadow.

"Stay back!" Tien-2 yelled as he tried his hardest to pull the machine back. Goku tried to fight back or move, but the onslaught quickly became too much and soon he was lying still at the bottom of a crater, beaten and bloodied.

"Okay, I think the sparring has gone a little bit too far!" Tien said as he fused back into one being. Gete-robot stopped fighting, stepping back calmly from Goku who didn't appear to move. Bulma rushed into the crater to grab her friend.

"You have proven incapable of protecting yourselves and as such shall be brought under my protection." The Gete-robot said coldly.

"You monster!" Bulma yelled, looking up at the robot. It's cold lifeless eyes offered no remorse. Tien looked back and forth between the two utterly confused. He didn't get long to figure it out as the ground around them shook.

"Unfortunately I have utilized all of my holding areas, so you will have to share with one of my other protectees. I hope that you will get along." Gete-robot said as the sky gave way to a cool metal tunnel and the entire meadow felt like it was shifting downwards. Once again reminding the group that they were actually in a giant metal ball floating in space.

"Bulma what is going on!?" Tien asked, looking around with his fists limp. There was no point in fighting the Gete-robot as Tien was clearly outclassed. And to imagine that was 50% strength! He knew he had a long way to go, but he didn't know he had that much longer to go. Eventually the Meadow came to a stop at a larger plain with a log cabin in the distance and the metal sky once again shifted to resemble a sunset. Bulma shivered as she felt a cool autumn breeze pass her and she wondered how this was even possible.

"Here is your exit. Enjoy your stay!" The Gete-robot said before promptly disappearing. Bulma and Tien looked at each other with a mutual "What the hell just happened!?". Bulma picked up the unconscious Goku and dragged him behind Tien as the latter led the way to the cabin. Gete had said they were going to share this place with someone else. Already the duo was thinking how they could possibly team up with this person to escape.

"Hey! Hey you!" They heard as they approached the cabin. Tien raised his fists slightly and raised his eyebrows.

"That power level! I've never felt anything like it!" He said as the yelling continued in the distance. Soon some... thing came into the clearing. A short pudgy creature in overalls and a straw hat, green skinned and long jowled. It was the source of the nasally voice that had been calling out - and the massive power level that Tien was feeling.

"Please tell me you're here to rescue me!" The creature said, high and annoying. Bulma slowly set Goku down.

"Rescue you?" She asked.

"Oh! Silly me, this hat obscured my identity," The creature removed it's hat, revealing a bulging third and fourth eye on opposite sides of it's forehead, "Private Guldo reporting for duty."

Bulma and Tien looked at each other, utterly confused. Guldo's shoulders seemed to slacken a little bit in defeat.

"You... are from the Galactic Trade Organization, right?" Guldo asked. Tien and Bulma shook their heads and Guldo sighed, kicking the dirt by his feet and walking towards the cabin.

"Wait!" Bulma said, chasing after him, "How long have you been stuck here?" She asked. Guldo stopped at his door.

"About three months. And I'll probably die here, since you two..." Guldo leaned to look past Bulma, "You three all have horrendously low power levels. I'm screwed!" Guldo dramatically opened his door, revealing a quaint little cabin with a fire already going under the cauldron. The sun was getting low and it was virtually night now.

"There's more to getting out of here than just power levels. I can get us out of here... if you help us." Bulma said. Guldo paused, considering it. He shrugged.

"Eh, why not? Come on in." Guldo said and walked into his cabin. Bulma and Tien entered, dragging the unconscious Goku behind them. Goku was in pretty bad shape. They needed to get him to some sensu beans and fast.

"Ew! What is that smell!?" Tien asked, making dramatic gagging sounds from his spot by the door. Guldo opened the top of the cauldron, wafting the smell towards his face and smiling.

"That - my new friends - is dinner!" He said.

Soon they were sitting at the small wooden table the cabin offered. It was tall enough that Guldo was standing, but Tien and Bulma were hunched down staring at their bowls of slop. As Tien watched the creature shovel food into it's mouth, he wondered how such a high power leveled creature could be so small and frail looking. Behind them, Goku was lying on the ground in the corner. They had cleaned up his wounds as best they could, but Goku had not awoken since his encounter with the Gete-robot.

"So there I was, on patrol when these damned Saiyan pirates came out of nowhere. Ambushed my crew and I. We had been responding to a planet's distress call, someone had apparently shown up and started exterminating the populace. Certainly matched the Saiyans old MO, but Frieza took care of them a long time ago. Anyways, they ambushed my crew and I. I was the only survivor." Guldo began explaining how he arrived on the Gete Star.

"I think we ran into those same guys. Blew up their ship on the way out." Bulma said between bites. Though the food smelled horrendous, it was actually pretty good once one dug into it and Bulma hadn't realized how hungry she had been.

"Really? Good. They were a dirty bunch. Of course they couldn't handle me. There's a reason I was the Captain. Oh gosh, Frieza is going to be so angry when he finds out what happened. This was my last chance to prove I could handle being on the Ginyu Squad. And here I screwed up a simple distress call and went AWOL for a few months." Guldo paused, out of breath just from talking, "Anyways, I tried to escape and ran into this Gete character. Accepted his challenge then lost."

"And now you're here?" Tien asked, leaning back from his empty bowl of food. It actually was pretty good.

"Yep! I've been trying every day to get out of here. But it hasn't been working." Guldo said, looking down sadly.

"What've you been trying?" Bulma asked, leaning forward. Guldo sighed.

"Well, the first couple of days I tried to fight my way out. But those damned robots are strong, and once they get in a pack they're pretty much impossible to beat. I could probably take them one on one, but that's not really an option anymore. After that I spent a couple of weeks exploring and found an air pocket if you could call it that. It's that gross filmy stuff Gete uses to separate sections of the ship. This one opens up for a second every day, literally one second. It's guarded by some of those robots and I haven't been able to get through." Guldo explained. Bulma looked at Tien.

"Maybe we could help? Fight them or create a distraction, whatever." Bulma suggested. Guldo shook his head, leaning back and burping.

"Nah. There's always a couple of handfuls of them. Way more than we could handle. I started trying to use my secret technique, but it's been... difficult." Guldo replied. Tien raised an eyebrow - as a connoisseur of techniques he was very interested in this .

"And what's that technique?" Tien asked, trying to contain his interest. Guldo paused - he wasn't really keen on sharing it, but he also wasn't keen on staying here forever.

"Well... I can stop time." Guldo explained, Bulma and Tien looked at each other, "But only when I hold my breath." Guldo finished. Bulma and Tien both looked down at Guldo's gut, which was moving quickly as he had run out of breath just talking to them just now. They all stopped and turned when they heard a groan behind them. Tien rushed over to Goku, putting an ear closer to Goku's mouth so he could hear him better.

"Foooood..." Goku groaned like a zombie. Tien stood up, smiling and shaking his head as he grabbed another bowl and brought it to Goku to drink. At the table Bulma and Guldo leaned in together.

"Do you think you could teach my friend there how to do the technique?" She asked. Guldo shifted his eyes around uncomfortably, but Bulma did her best puppy dog eyes impression.

"I guess so. But even with the technique I don't think we could get more than one of us through the door." Guldo said, breathing heavily. Bulma smiled, looking past Guldo at Tien as he fed Goku.

"Well, I think Tien could surprise you." Bulma said. Guldo paused, thinking and catching his breath.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll try it. I want to be able to see when we do this." Guldo said. Bulma nodded in agreement. After telling Tien and checking on Goku, Bulma and the rest of the group went to sleep for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

The Meadow, Big Gete Star

It had taken much longer to teach Tien the time freezing technique. Apparently it was a special trait of Guldo's species, who on the whole used it to make more time in the day to eat food. Guldo was actually one of the more ambitious members of his fairly sedentary species, although he got offended when Bulma compared his family to sloths. Regarding Tien, he had limited success with his technique when he tapped into his third eye - he and Guldo had determined that there must've been some sort of connections based on their both having extra eyes. Bulma thought that was a load of baloney.

"Okay, I give up." Guldo said as he purposely fell down on his butt. Tien raised an eyebrow, opening his eyes and his mouth. He had spent the last several minutes holding his breath. This had been just what Bulma thought - with Tien's experience as a monk and spending long periods of meditating, he could hold his breath for a long time. Of course, even Bulma could hold her breath longer than Guldo, but Tien could hold his breath for an amount of time that some would consider inhuman.

"We have to figure out how long I can hold my breath so that we can plan our escape accordingly." Tien said simply. Bulma hopped up from her spot in the meadow, where Goku was leaning against a tree for support.

"Well, it will probably differ based on how much you exert yourself. You're going to have to carry us all through that hole." Bulma explained. Tien smirked.

"It won't affect me." Tien replied. Guldo laughed.

"It won't matter if you can't master my technique. That door is open for one second and not a moment longer. You need to stop time - " Guldo began to explain.

"And so far I've only been slowing it down." Tien cut him off, frowning. He didn't like to admit that he had a hard time learning a new technique. Goku opened his eyes slightly, smiling at the sun in the distance.

"Maybe you could try sparring while using the technique?" Goku offered, voice hoarse. Even multiple days later, he was still on the mend. To be fair, such an onslaught would've put a normal person in the hospital for months, so all things considered he was recovering pretty well. Tien and Guldo looked at each other and shrugged.

"I would have to go easy on him, but yeah we could try it." Guldo said, sucking in a big breath in preparation. Tien didn't gather much breath at all. The grass stopped swaying, the sun became still, and Goku and Bulma looked like statues. This held for a moment or two, and then everything began moving again - only very, very slowly. Guldo bounded the small distance between himself and Tien, hitting Tien half-heartedly on the shoulder. Tien's eyes went wide with intense pain and his arm would've broken if he didn't roll away from it. Still, he continued to hold his breath and bounded away as Guldo waddled towards him.

Not wanting to be bothered with chasing Tien, Guldo began charging up a very small energy blast. Even with the little effort put into it, the blast felt like a small star as it sailed over Tien's shoulder - he barely dodged it. He rolled away from the mass destruction caused by the blast and finally opened his mouth to breath. To Goku and Bulma, it appeared as if Guldo and Tien moved faster than the eye could see and blew up half the meadow within a second. Luckily, nanites poured from the walls and quickly reconstructed the meadow.

"Wait a minute." Goku thought aloud, a little more awake now, "Why don't you use the Multi-Form technique with this one?" Tien paused, pulling himself up off the ground and wiping off his tacky green pants.

"The strength and speed cut wouldn't really matter as long as my lung capacity isn't reduced. Even if it was divided by four it might still be enough." Tien offered. Bulma nodded, smiling.

"Then it wouldn't matter that you only slowed down time - three Tiens would be more than enough to carry us through the air pocket!" Bulma explained with a smile; while the Meadow was a nice place, ultimately it was a prison. Unfortunately Gete could never see that.

"What about once we get past the film?" Guldo asked the important question for the first time. They hadn't yet considered what would happen if they succeeded.

"Well, I have a way of tracking our ship, so getting back there won't be an issue." Bulma offered, "Besides that, I'm not sure."

"We could always fight our way out." Goku offered listlessly. Tien and Bulma looked at each other, shaking their heads.

"Yeah... that's not happening buddy." Tien told him. Goku seemed to nod in agreement, but quickly fell asleep.

"How strong are you, when you use this multi-form technique?" Guldo asked. Tien shrugged.

"I could probably still carry everyone. Maybe in twos." Tien said. Guldo nodded.

"Okay. How about this - each of your copies takes turns holding their breath and moving us up the hallway. These robots are strong - I think if we take even a second to catch our breath they could seriously do some damage." Guldo said. Bulma snapped her fingers, pointing at Guldo.

"That's genius! Let's do it."

Soon the group arrived at the part of the meadow with the air pocket - they quickly began sweating as Bulma counted about 10 Gete-robots. Just 1 had been able to wreck Goku and Tien a new one, and a group of three had bested Guldo. Still, it wasn't like they had to fight them! The plan was idiot-proof, or at least that's what Bulma thought. She nodded to Tien, giving him the signal to go.

"Multi-form!" He said and split into three. Each Tien grabbed a buddy - Guldo, Bulma, and Goku; and began charging at the robots. They all turned towards Tien, arms up in defensive mode. Already Tien heard the sucking sound that was the film about to open. One of the robots charging the group of Tiens really really fast. All three held their breath and the machine slowed to a near halt with a claw right in the middle Tien's face. He would've breathed a sigh of relief but, well you know...

Each Tien didn't waste their time or their breath, bounding around the group of robots while holding the unmoving statues that was their friends. Well, unmoving except for one.

"Hurry up hurry up!" Guldo said from his spot under Tien-1's right arm. Tien-1 held up a finger to shush the fat green alien. Things ended up being timed perfectly, as the film inched open as soon as the Tien's approached the door. They looked behind themselves nervously as the robots tried to converge on them, but the film opened just barely enough for them to crawl through the hole.

They quickly let go of their collective breath, but time remained stopped as Guldo held his breath. He hopped out of Tien-1's arm and waddled over to Tien-2, tapping Bulma and bringing her into his time realm. She looked around, a bit bewildered as she experienced randomly changing positions. She tapped a button on her wrist and Guldo opened his mouth for a moment. One second past, allowing the door behind them to close, the Tien's to catch their breath, and a sonar to ping the Capsule Corp ship and give a location to Bulma's watch. This time Tien-1 held his breath, bringing everything to a stop - and not a moment too soon as three robots barely turned the corner. He grabbed Bulma and sprinted down the hallway until he ran out of breath just behind the robots.

Once he ran out of breath, Tien-2 held his and carried Goku, then after him Tien-3 carried Guldo. They leapfrogged like this throughout the Gete star, following the location on Bulma's watch. Of course time wasn't completely stopped, and the last Tien in line was always practically climbing over a swarm of robots in order to continue. The whole time Gete was trying to tell them something, but it was so slow that they couldn't make it out. Eventually the group made it to their ship, having to wait a few moments for the ship door to open.

This is really what screwed them over as the robots got way too close and one jumped over them and into the ship. Still, it was something they would deal with. Just moments after being in the meadow, Bulma found herself transplanted right in the cockpit of the Capsule Corp ship as two Tien's forced the door closed during the gap between seconds. She clicked the blast off button, and found that the ship was overpowered as Guldo sat in the training room and powered up. She quickly became aware of the ship slowing down and began to worry that things hadn't worked. But she turned around to see Tien-1 holding her shoulder.

His mouth was closed, obviously, but he motioned to the hallway. Bulma followed him quietly, passing Goku's prone form on the ground as a senzu bean floated over his open mouth. Once she entered the hallway she saw the Gete-robot holding up Tien-2 and Tien-3, slowmotion slamming them into the ground.

"No one pulls that one my ship." Bulma replies with a stern look as she walks curtly around the Gete-robot and opens a hatch on it's back. She had wanted to do this earlier to help Tien and Goku, but the machines were too fast for her to pull this stunt. But now, that wasn't a problem. Able to watch the Gete-robot's circuit board move in slowmo, Bulma was able to see what made it run. She quickly deduced the right button to hit, calmly ripping a chord out of the robot's back.

Time resumed and the Gete-robot collapsed to the ground, deactivated. The ship shook slightly as it rocketed out of the Gete Star faster than Bulma had even thought possible. All three Tiens fell on the ground, breathing heavily and behind Bulma Goku exited the cockpit now completely fine and with a smile on his face.

"What did I miss, guys?"


	12. Chapter 12

Outer Space; Capsule Corp Ship

"Good lord, I have never felt such an enormous power level." Tien said as they floated towards their latest destination. 

"Haven't heard that one before." Bulma rolled her eyes, keeping the ship steady on their course. 

"I take offense to that!" Guldo said in reference to Tien's statement, "But I agree. This is even bigger than Lord Frieza!" Guldo said, "Thousands of power levels, all in the millions!" Guldo seemed to be sweating now, either out of fear or too much exertion. 

"Well, I'm sure they're very friendly!" Goku chimed in from a chair next to Bulma. 

"Thank you!" Bulma said without looking at Goku - her eyes were firmly on their new destination; a lush looking green planet. How could something so picture-esque hold such powerful beings, she wondered. 

"Besides; you said yourself there's always someone stronger. Better to just get used to it instead of only going places where you're the strongest." Bulma continued, tapping absentmindedly on the steering wheel. 

She had always been around people with 'high power levels' - whatever that happened to be at the time - and she knew she could take care of herself regardless. It just seemed to be a lesson that the boys had trouble learning. 

"Easy for you to say, you've got a powerful warrior like me to protect you." Guldo murmured. 

"Powerful warrior or not, I will put my foot up your ass, Guldo." Bulma said without missing a beat. Guldo nodded. 

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry." He said, walking away to sulk. Bulma looked at a nearby screen as she began to get some more information on the planet below. 

"Good news is this is the perfect place. Lots of fresh air and fresh food." Bulma said. 

"That sounds perfect!" Goku said. Bulma nodded.

"Yes, but remember this is just a pit stop to stretch our legs. After that we're going to the Demon World." Bulma said. 

"Such an awful name." Tien said with a sigh. 

"There's probably a damn good reason Lord Frieza lists that planet as a Red Zone." Guldo said, "This is a place not even top Planetary Trade Organization agents can go to." 

"Well obviously anyone who can bring people back from the dead is going to be amazingly powerful." Bulma said, waving off the fat green alien. Tien and Goku were silent, along with Bulma. She had crafted a ship that never had to stop moving - it was powered on ki given off from the boys sparring and was able to create food out of nothing. 

But she had underestimated what a toll it would take to go long periods of time without sunlight. Sure, they could just move straight to their destination, but they had all been drained by months with nothing but artificial lighting and the remorseless black of space. Bulma almost missed the Meadow, but she didn't. 

"This is such a bad idea!" Guldo said. He unfortunately didn't mind not having sunlight and was thus as annoying as usual. Thankfully he had been at least partially useful - he had been training the boys for weeks now and they had both made remarkable improvements. They even found out that Goku had gained a pretty significant power boost just from recovering from the Gete Star; something or other about a zenkai. 

"There's so many of them crowded right where we're landing!" Guldo whined. Bulma pulled up some advance cameras, zooming in on the ground. What she saw shocked her. 

"Oh... my... god!" She said. Goku practically climbed over her to try and look at the screen as well. 

"What is it? What is it?" He asked loudly.

"It's a bunch of cats!" Bulma squeed. She typically hated animals, but cats were an exception. The ship touched down in a peaceful glade, surrounded by hundreds of cats. Tien scratched his head. 

"These little guys are the source of the power I'm feeling?" He said, utterly confused. In the corner Guldo was holding head and sweating. Bulma tapped a button, opening the ship ramp and instantly conjuring a low rumbling sound. 

She quickly identified it as the purring of hundreds of cats at once. Bulma jumped up and clapped her hands excitedly and ran towards the exit ramp with Goku, Tien, and finally Guldo in tow. She reached the edge of the ramp and held up her arms. 

"Kitties!" She said, about to body-slam into the hoard of cats when one stepped forward. 

"Hello." It said simply, standing upright and holding a staff not unlike Korin. Bulma screamed abject terror. Goku took this chance to step forward, getting down on one knee so that he was level with the talking cat. 

"Hey little guy!" He said, all smiles. 

"I am Debo; and this is my tribe. What brings you to our wonderful glade?" Debo the cat asked very politely. 

"Awww! He's so cute!" Goku reached out and scratched Debo behind the ear. Debo tried to frown, but soon he was on the ground purring. His attendant, however, glared at the group as if he hadn't slept in a decade. Tien sighed, stepping forward. 

"We've been traveling for a long time and just wanted to find a spot where we could enjoy nature. If you do not want us to be here we shall leave in peace." Tien said. Goku finally stopped petting Debo, allowing him to stand back up and collect himself. 

"Not at all! We are a peaceful people and we protect these meadows so that any who wish can come and enjoy them." Debo said. Bulma finally recollected herself and finally did slam herself into the hoard of cats, who immediately started playing with her. Debo motioned to the group. 

"Come! I will show you our village." Debo said. The Z Fighters followed him and his retinue of cats dutifully. Goku strode next to Debo, very interested in knowing more about this place. 

"This place - it's so beautiful. How did you come about here?" Goku asked. 

"To be truthful, we were not always a perfect species. We used our massive powers for mischief, but eventually two of our own - my nephews, actually - turned out to be Gods of Destruction." Debo explained. Goku laughed.

"Yeah, that's what my Grandpa Gohan always said about me." Goku said. Debo only smiled. 

"Somehow I don't think it's the same situation." Debo said as the group finally arrived at the village. There were straw houses everywhere, but in the center was an immaculate ship with all sorts of tribal-esque adornments about it. 

It didn’t take long for their group to dissipate - Goku went towards the nearest source of food, Bulma towards the playing children, and Tien followed a group of monk-like cats to the nearest waterfall for a quick round of meditation. 

“Why would Frieza ban venturing into this place?” Guldo wondered to himself, “Certainly their power levels are great, but they seem harmless. I bet it would be child’s play to rob these people blind.” 

“Hello, where do you people keep your most valued items?” Guldo asked a nearby kitten. The kitten paused, considering the question and scratching their chin while they thought - it was very cute. Soon enough, Guldo was on his way to the local temple. 

It was almost comically easy for him to strut past the delegation of praying cats, towards a back room glowing with the sheer weight of gold. Guldo grinned, running and jumping into the pile. 

“With this bounty, I can finally quit working for that bastard Frieza!” Guldo threw some of the coins into the air, “With this much, maybe I can make him work for me!” 

Guldo searched around for an empty sack, eventually finding one full of dust and emptying that out onto the floor. He then began scooping up as many coins as he could fit into the sack. 

“Grandpa? What is that gross man doing with Grandma’s ashes?” A small little voice called out behind Guldo. He turned around quickly, sweat already gathering on his brow. He was greeted by the sight of an old cat-man and his small little cat-grandson. They looked weak… and slow. 

“Time Freeze!” Guldo called out, holding his breath. The duo who caught him instantly froze, allowing Guldo to tiptoe past. Though they didn’t move, he did notice that the old man’s eyes creepily followed him even while his body was frozen. 

Guldo made it to the door of the temple before he let his breathe go. He hazarded a glance behind him, wanting to give himself the chance for an evil cackle… as soon as he did, his face connected with a wooden staff and knocked him out cold. 

* * *

“He what!?” 

“Kami help me.” 

“Did you catch him?”

“Yes, the thief was apprehended.” Debo said. At this, Guldo briefly awakened - only to be knocked out cold once more by the elderly cat person. The trio looked at each other. 

“He did help us break out of the Big Gete Star.” Goku pointed out. Bulma just frowned. 

“He helped himself break out.” Tien responded, crossing his arms and staring down at the alien. Bulma sighed, stepping to the front of the group. 

“We’re very sorry about this offense.” Bulma said, bowing to the elder; “He’s a new addition to our group who don’t know very well, but we take full responsibility for his actions.” 

Debo squinted, glancing between Guldo and the rest of the trio. After a moment, he nodded. 

“Are you familiar with the Planet Trade Organization?” Debo asked finally. Goku, Tien, and Bulma all glanced at each other before shrugging. 

“He mentioned he works for them and that they avoid this planet… but that’s about all we know.” Tien responded. Debo motioned for one of his attendants. They came over and grabbed Guldo by the bindings, dragging him off towards a nearby jail cell. 

“We typically reserve this for when Cousin Grebo has too much to drink, but it should suffice for your plump friend.” Debo paused, “Come - sit by the fire.” 

The trio dutifully followed Debo to the nearby fire. It was a small fire, a few yards away from a much larger one where the majority of the clan was chanting and marching in a circle. At Debo’s order, a large plate of food was provided to the newcomers. 

“I get the feeling that you are good people - warriors for the cause of righteousness.” Debo paused, “What brings you out this far into space?” 

“A few years ago, we lost two of our close friends in a battle to prevent a demon from taking over the world.” Goku explained easily between bites of food, “We’re looking around space for some kind of way to bring them back to life.” 

“Hm,” Debo grunted, “The power of life and death is not one to be wielded lightly. However, you say these allies were cut down in a bid to stop a demon - a worthy cause if I heard of one.” 

“Therefore, I would caution you to leave your ally behind. He will bring nothing but evil into your noble pursuit. As a member of the Planet Trade Organization, he can do no better than that.” Debo explained. 

“Who is this PTO, anyways?” Tien asked. 

“They are a blight of locusts upon the galaxy, traveling from planet to planet - they destroy the inhabitants to a man and then sell the real estate to the highest bidder. They are lead by the Cold Family last I checked, a group of unimpressive and sadistic villains if there ever were some.” Debo continued. 

“From what my friends here tell me, your species is very powerful. Why don’t you go stop this Planet Trade Organization?” Bulma asked. 

“We are a species of pacifists. Dedicated to non-violence and protecting only the garden we were charged with.” Debo explained. He glanced around at the people around the fire, before reaching in his coat and pulling out a small slip of paper. 

“I have with me the location a place where your quest might be answered… but I would caution you, the way is dangerous and in the PTO’s path. And if you are truly righteous warriors, you will use your newfound power to put a stop to the Cold Family.” Debo said, handing the paper to Bulma. 

* * *

Within a few hours, the group had loaded back onto the ship - including Guldo, although he was still unconscious. Debo waved solemnly at them as they lifted into the air, with his warning still hanging in their ears.


	13. Chapter 13

Kame House, Earth

Master Roshi was deep into watching vintage workout videos when the front door to his little house exploded. He sat in stillness, unmoved by the chaotic force. After a moment for a dramatic pause, he tilted his head and glanced towards the door. 

In the doorway was a lithe woman, with short cropped black hair. Though a mighty scowl donned her face, she was still breathing quite heavily from the force it took to explode the door like that. Roshi grinned, slowly spinning around from his spot on the floor. 

“You!” He began to say, recognizing her as Chi-Chi. 

“Where is he!?” Chi-Chi shouted at him despite her lack of breath. Roshi just scratched his head. 

“Where is who?” He asked, quizzically. Chi-Chi apparently did not like that answer, as she seemed to teleport across the room and grab Master Roshi by the shirt collar and lift him into the air. 

“You know exactly who I’m talking about! That stupid boy with the monkey tail!” She shouted in Roshi’s face. 

“Goku?” Roshi asked, slightly afraid. A bead of sweat traveled down his forehead. 

“Yes! He promised he would marry me and then disappeared for years.” Chi-Chi said, tossing Roshi backwards onto the couch. She joined the spot next to him and put her head in her hands. 

“I just… looked forward to marrying him so much. It was all I thought about for years! A-and he’s just gone?” Chi-Chi began to sob into her hands. Roshi stared blankly at the wall for a moment, but as Chi-Chi continued to cry he began to feel awkward. 

“There, there.” He said quietly as he patted her on the back. He looked up at the ceiling, taking in a deep breath; “Goku? Marry? Goku married?” He whispered to himself, utterly perplexed. 

“I’m sorry to tell you, young lady, but Goku’s not here anymore.” Roshi began to explain. Chi-Chi stopped crying, whipping her head in his direction. 

“He’s dead!” She asked sadly, before completely switching, “He better be, for abandoning me!” She raised her voice again. 

“He’s not dead. He’s just not on this planet anymore.” Roshi explained. Chi-Chi stopped, staring at Roshi with utter confusion. Roshi sighed. 

“He got on a spaceship and went into space. He’s looking for the dragon balls so he can bring his friend Krillin back from the dead…” Roshi explained as quickly and succinctly as he could. Chi-Chi nodded, slowly letting out her breath. 

“Oh…” She paused, “Do you know when he’ll be back?” 

“Nope. Just that he’ll be back when he finishes what he set out to do.” Roshi shrugged. 

“Well how could he leave me here all alone.” 

“I genuinely don’t think he thought of you.” 

“This is so awful. I spent all that time training for that tournament so I could remind him who I was, and then he wasn’t even there!” Chi-Chi replied sadly. 

“Oh…” Roshi paused, “So if you didn’t care about the prize money, maybe you could give it to me… Why did you even complete the tournament if you realized Goku wasn’t there?” 

“Oh. Well, there was this guy. He really made me angry. So I decided I had to fight him. But he was on the opposite side of the bracket, so I had to beat everyone else before I could fight him.” Chi-Chi explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Hmm…” Roshi nodded, while stroking his long bushy beard, “Well those were quite some fights you had, all for a guy who pissed you off.” Chi-Chi shrugged. 

“You know, you remind me of someone I used to know. Her name was Launch… or Lunch, I can’t remember. Anyways, she had quite a temper too!” Roshi chuckled, “She was quite dangerous when she put her mind to it.” 

“Where is she now?” Chi-Chi asked.

“Robbing banks, last I watched the tele.” Roshi replied. Chi-Chi nodded, smiling. 

“She got to be on TV? That’s cool…” Chi-Chi said. After a pause, she groaned and leaned back into her seat. 

“Ugh! What am I going to do with my life now?” She asked rhetorically. Roshi glanced over at his nearby shelf, where one of his many martial arts awards lay. 

“I’ve been asking myself the same thing since Goku left.” He said quietly, grinning as an idea began to form in his head. 

* * * 

“It’s not often that we get visitors from up above.” Bora said as he walked around the soft fire, handing a bowl full of soup to his son and another to the man sitting across the fire from them. 

“My father thought it best that I… socialize.” The man, who had green skin and wore a turban, said solemnly before taking a sip of the soup that had been provided to him. 

“Given that you arrived alone, I don’t think this was specifically what he had in mind.” Bora offered sagely as he took a seat for himself. 

“Friends of Kami & Korin are friends of ours though, right dad?” Upa offered up. Bora smiled, patting his son kindly on the shoulder. 

“Your people, they’ve guarded the Sacred Lands of Korin for decades correct?” Piccolo asked. Bora nodded. 

“Centuries. And yes. As long as our tribal history goes back, we have been guarding the bottom of this tower.” Bora explained. 

“Hm.” Piccolo replied simply, taking a moment of silence to drink his soup and think on what was said. 

“Do you ever… wish you could be somewhere else?” Piccolo asked, “Does the responsibility weigh on you?” Bora paused at this statement, setting down his bowl and staring at Piccolo intently. 

“Well… I’ve never really thought about it.” Bora said carefully, “This is the only life I’ve ever known.” He paused, considering the question again.

“But no, I don’t think I would. If I had left when I was young, I would not have Upa here with me today.” At this Bora ruffled the hair of his son, “And I wouldn’t have all the fine people of the Karinga Tribe as my friends.” 

“So, having people you care about… makes it a little bit easier?” Piccolo asked. Bora nodded, grinning as he did so. 

“Exactly! I couldn’t have said it better myself.” 

* * * 

“He said put the money in the bag!” The blonde woman said as she pressed the gun closer to the afro’d man’s forehead. 

“Just hold on a second, Launch.” Yamcha stayed her hand, “Let’s see what the guy has to say.” 

Launch scowled in response to this, but slowly lowered her weapon. The afro’d man sighed, taking a moment to calm down and catch his breath. 

“Now look, I know you two hooligans think you can make a quick buck off of robbing my family valuables…” Hercule paused, “But I think you could make a lot more money if you’d hear me out.” 

“Just spit it out, old man!” Yamcha commanded, scowling at the rich wrestler. Hercule jumped in fear, nodding quickly. 

“Of course, of course.” Hercule said, “I want to hire the two of you -”


End file.
